Drift
by Lunamon810
Summary: Ed is assigned missions with three other alchemists, Cascade Crown, The Lava Alchemist, Hailey Cleveland, the Vine Alchemist, and Alice Greenfield, the Whirlwind Alchemist. But why is Cascade so secretive? The five, Ed, Cascade, Hailey, Alice, and Al are all up for the biggest missions of their lives...Just maybe not immediately.


**Hey guys, Lunamon810 here-**

**Cascade: No duh Luna.**

**Anyway this is my Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction. I'd like for it to be clear that this in no way affects or replaces Digimon: The Crest of Trust, as I'm still working hard on that too, I'm just kinda busy atm, and school starts back in I believe 11 days. So I promise I'm still writing on both. Anyway towns mentioned in this story will most likely be fake, I'm just not good with research. Sorry. And also this will probably (like 98% sure) not have anything to do with the Homunculi, and if it does it'll probably be the original anime. Though like I said they probably won't be in it at all. Also just a note, slanted words are Cascade thinking, not someone talking to her. So that being said, I hope you enjoy the story and...yeah. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters and am in no way associated with the makers or anyone else to do with it.**

**Claimer: I do own Cascade, Hailey, and Alice.**

* * *

Edward Elric sat on the couch in Colonel Roy Mustang's office. He stared at Mustang, as they awaited the three other people he was to be working with to arrive. He'd never met them before, and he wasn't quite in the mood to do so. He was pretty mad Mustang didn't think he could handle his next missions by himself. He heard footsteps and sighed. Now it was time to meet these three, having no idea who they were, what they did for the military, anything.

Three girls stepped into the room and the last one in closed the door. All three stood in a salute position, the one with golden blond hair looked annoyed, the light brown haired one looked nervous, and the dirty-blond haired one looked like she was trying hard not to, and kept a straight face. Once they dropped the salute, Roy stood up.

"Fullmetal, these are your three partners. The Vine Alchemist," the golden blond one gave a small bow, "the Whirlwind Alchemist," the light brown haired one bowed, " and the Lava Alchemist." the dirty blond one bowed.

"Can't we at least be called by our real names?" the Vine Alchemist asked with an annoyed tone. "I'm Hailey Cleveland."

"Alice Greenfield." the Whirlwind Alchemist said.

"Cascade Crown." The Lava Alchemist this time.

"Girls, this is Fullmetal."

"The legendary Fullmetal Alchemist?" Cascade asked.

"The one and only." Ed said proudly, nodding.

"He's, um, what's the word...short." Hailey said bluntly.

"Who are you calling so short he could be squashed by a fly!" Ed exclaimed.

"Uh, Fullmetal? She didn't say anything like that..." Alice said.

"Your real name's Edward, right?" Cascade said.

"Uh, yeah." Ed said. "I guess you could call me by that, if you'd prefer, or Ed. So what's with your names anyway?"

"Well, we're EA's." Alice said. "Element Alchemists. I'm a Wind Alchemist."

"Earth Alchemist." Haliey said.

"Fire Alchemist...well that's what they classify me under." Cascade said."Although I do more lava alchemy than fire."

"Really? Your real name sounds more...Water Alchemist." Ed said.

"If I had a nickel for everytime someone told me that." Cascade said.

Ed looked at Roy. "Aren't you a Flame Alchemist?"

"Yes, but she gets her powers...differently." Roy replied. "And as she's stated she doesn't use alchemy to make flames, she uses it to make lava."

"Right." Ed nodded. "So remind me, why do I need their help?"

"Excuse me." Hailey said raising her eyebrows. "Repeat that, I don't think that came out quite right." Hailey put her hand around the over sized charm on the necklace around her neck, a transmutation circle. Cascade put her hand over Hailey's.

"Now's not the time Vine-girl." Cascade said. "We apparently have some important missions to do and they can't be done if he's in the hospital."

"Oh yeah, thanks. You'd be mad because the mission would be delayed 'cause I was beat-up!" Ed said.

"That's not what I meant you idiot!" Cascade said, and took a deep breath. "Whatever, go on Colonel."

"Your first mission together will be in the town of Trinivet. There's apparently a serial killer on the loose and the police can't get it under control, apparently he kills rich people and steals their valuables."

Alice was paleing. "You want us to...catch a serial killer? Us? Three teenage girls, and a shrimp teenage boy?" She gasped and put her hand over her mouth.

"Who are you calling a shrimp-sized-midget-who-can-never-hope-to-grow-a-half-an-inch!" Ed exploded.

"Sorry."

"You may all be teenagers, but your teenagers who can use alchemy. Strong alchemy. "Mustang said. "You'll all be fine. Now go, I have a lot of paperwork to do. And you have a serial killer to capture."

"Have I ever mentioned how you always give me great, totally safe missions?" Cascade said smiling. "Because if I did, I was drunk beyond belief." While in reality, she'd never drunk a day in her life.

Roy rolled his eyes, and started on his paperwork. The four exited the room, grabbed their things, and were soon off to the train station. None of them said much of anything, crowded in the back seat of the car, with Al in the front with the driver. Ed had his arm propped up on the window edge, his chin resting on his forearm. Cascade sat with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Alice leaned back, staring at the ceiling of the car, while Hailey sat with her forehead against the other window edge. "You know what guys? This sucks." Hailey said.

"No freaking duh." Cascade said.

"Not desirable, no." Alice said sighing.

"I guess I've had to do worse." Ed said. "But seriously, is he trying to get us killed?"

"I'm afraid that might be true at this point." Cascade said. "Last week I had to catch a few chimeras, wasn't a pretty picture I assure you that."

Ed groaned. "I don't even wanna talk about my run-ins with chimeras."

"I avoid them at all costs." Alice said. "They're...creepy. And I feel so sorry for them, but I know when I'm assigned on a mission to get them, I have to."

"Hopefully this guy isn't a chimera-maker too," Hailey said. "If he is remind me to personally beat the crap out of Mustang."

"The second I see a chimera that man is screwed a million times over." Cascade said, shaking her head.

"Aww come on guys, surely there won't be chimeras here!" Al said. Ed looked over at Cascade, who was kind of staring at him.

"Uh, something wrong?"

"Um, you have a automail arm, right?"

"Uh-huh." Ed nodded and lifted up his sleeve to show his automail arm, then let the sleeve sink back down. Cascade looked forward and stared at the floor, leaving Ed wondering why she asked. After a few minutes of silence, he finally asked. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason." Cascade said. "Just curious."

They arrived quickly, and got on a train to Trinivet, and found a completely empty car on the train. Ed and Al sat on one side, and the four girls on the one directly across from them. They were quiet for a while, until Ed decided to break the silence.

"So you guys are Element Alchemists?"

"Huh?" Cascade said, looking forward apposed to the ceiling as she had been. "Oh, yeah, we're EA's."

"That's cool. How does it work?" Al asked. "Is it hard to carry around stuff like wood and fuel?"

"Oh, well you see, we have these." Hailey said, raising up her necklace a little bit. "We ourselves don't know how they work exactly, but the guy who created them does. They do all that stuff, we just use the necklace."

"Oh, really?" Ed said. "That's why Hailey grabbed her necklace earlier then."

"Uh-huh." Hailey said. "And don't think I'm afraid to use it."

"I wonder how those work." Al said.

"I think they have something to do with what they're made of." Hailey said. "Like mine is made of wood."

Al nodded. "That could have something to do with it."

Cascade stared up at the ceiling now. So many things she'd never understand. She sighed and looked out the window, watching the rocky mountains zoom by. She was pretty mad at Roy right now. She was always given jobs like this, dangerous jobs. "You would think Roy wouldn't send teenagers on this job. You'd think that he'd use his more experienced older soldiers."

"You're not doubting us are you Cascade?" Hailey said.

"No, I'm doubting fate at this point." Cascade said with a annoyed tone. She stood up and walked down to the other side of the car, spacing herself from the others. She laid down on the seat, her knees bent. She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of the train, and she heard what she figured was Al walk nearby. She heard someone sit down on the bench directly across from her, so she sat up and looked at him. "Hi."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just tense. These sounds like a pretty big case, you know." Cascade said smiling.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Cascade, then stared at the floor. Was she sure? She didn't know anymore. She tried not to think too much about things, she found it could create problems. She twisted her necklace in between her fingers.

"You don't sound sure." Al said.

"What do you care?" Cascade said, a little sharper than she intended.

"I just don't like seeing people unhappy." he said, sounding a little bit hurt. Little-ish kid voices sounding hurt because of her was something that got to her, made her feel bad easily.

"Sorry, I just have some stuff on my mind." _Even though it's stuff that's been on my mind for years now._

"Oh yeah?" Al said. "I guess I know what you mean."

Cascade grinned at him then stared up at the ceiling of the train car. Her eyes drifted over to Al, who was still staring at her. She leaned back, relaxing. "Okay, what?"

"Are you mad at something?"

"Maybe." she said a little too fast.

"What?"

Cascade stared at the bench she was sitting on to her right. She quietly muttered "Fate".

"Fate? Why?"

"None of your business okay! Isn't it obvious fate is cruel to all of us? You're a suit of armor, your brother has two pieces of automail, and I- well it's none of your business!" she said, then turned away again, deciding to ignore anything else.

"Everything okay down there Al?" Ed asked.

"Yeah." Al replied, then looked back at Cascade. "We're going to be working a lot together you know."

"Yeah, so?" she snapped, and had to resist from growling at herself. _Cascade, he's just a kid. Of course he's curious, what kid wouldn't be? You can't just snap at him like that._

"So we shouldn't have secrets." Al said.

"Then what's with the suit of armor, buddy?" Cascade said sharply. "Don't wanna tell us that, do you? And I bet your brother wouldn't speak of why he only has two real limbs." _Chill out Cascade! You're stressing out way too much. It's not this kid's fault that you're so secretive._

"I guess we all have our rights." Al said.

Suddenly Ed was by their side, his arms crossed. "Okay, Cascucumber or whatever your name is, why are you yelling at my brother?"

Cascade blinked at him. "Cascucumber? Really?"

"Answer the question!"

"Well your brother-" _Not his fault._ "I'm just irritated okay!"

"Why do you have to take it out on me and Al?"

"Just shut up you shrimp!" Cascade screamed, standing up and pushing him down, stomping past him to the neighboring car, jumping across, and closing the door behind her. The car was completely empty. Cascade punched the wall. "You are an idiot you stupid Lava Alchemist! He didn't deserve that! Stop taking your problems out on others!" She banged her head against the wall, then felt someone put a hand on her back. She whirled around and punched them, to see it was Al. "I did not mean to do that!"

"It's not like I can feel it." he said, somewhat coldly. Then his voice changed to concern. "Are you okay? I don't think you meant to do that back there either."

Cascade blushed somewhat. "No, I'm not okay. My past has me like this, okay? No, I don't want to tell anyone what happened."

"Okay. That's fine. Hey, did you notice when you punched me it made a weird sound?"

"No." she said.

"Okay.' he said, then Ed burst into the room.

"So what right did you have to do that!"

"What right did you have to poke your nose into my business?" Cascade shot back, not missing a beat.

"My younger brother was apart of it, I have plenty of right!"

"Are you sure he's younger?"

"Are you sure you're fit to be a State Alchemist?"

She had the necklace off her neck in seconds. "Why don't I show you!" She slammed her hand with the necklace charm in it against the table to her right, but it didn't transmute, because she didn't try. "I don't plan to die on this train ride." She walked past him and jumped back over to the original car.

"What is with her!" Ed exclaimed.

"A lot more than we think, brother." Al said quietly, and Ed looked at him.

"Huh?" Al didn't respond and just walked back to the other cart, Ed following close behind.

"You okay Lava-A?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said bitterly, sitting back down where she and Al had first talked.

The rest of the car ride the only talking seemed to come from Alice and Hailey. Ed stared at Al half the time, Cascade the other. She glared out the window, not wanting to look at the innocent people she'd taken her anger out on. When they arrived she put on her black backpack, and Hailey and Alice also grabbed their single bag, Ed his and Al's suitcase. The first words Cascade spoke she spoke the second she got off the train. "Remind me to strangle Mustang next time he sends me on a mission with two people I hardly know to catch a crazy robbing murderer."

"Same." Hailey said.

"I'll add it to the list of things to strangle him for too." Ed said with a slight growl.

"So what do we do first?" Alice asked.

"We should probably get a room at the local inn, so we can get a feel of the town for what remains of the day, get a plan together at the room, and hopefully catch this wack-job tonight."

"Maybe." Hailey said. "But what if he gets us? Then we're screwed, dead, and Roy can put our file in the massive library of covered up deaths?"

"I won't let that happen." Cascade said, then headed out of the train station. The other four followed her, and she stared around, hoping to see a sign that clearly said 'Inn', but to no avail. She stopped a little girl who was walking along the street.

"Hey, you know where the Inn is?"

"Uh-huh." she said and pointed at a run-down looking building down the street.

"That's the Inn?"

"Yep!"

"Fan-freaking-tastic. Thanks." she walked past the little girl, and was the first in the Inn which smelled of wine and cigarettes. Not her ideal place for staying, but she assumed it to be the only Inn. She went to the guy behind the counter. "We need a room."

She pulled the money out of her pocket and sat it down as he gave her the room key. She lead the way up the stairs, into the room marked '37' like the room key. She opened it, and the room actually didn't look horrible, not great, but not horrible. There were two beds and a couch, a TV, and a desk. "Well, lets drop our stuff off and get out of here. I can't stand the stench this place produces."

After dropping their stuff off, they exited the apartment building, to Cascade's relief. They walked down the many streets, and once they felt like they could navigate if need be, returned to the apartment building. She was the first in the room, the first to see him. He looked about thirty-five, slick black hair that was cut pretty short, a black tank-top, and green camo pants that tucked into black boots. "I think the search is over." He picked up Hailey's bag.

"Bad mistake, strike one." Hailey said.

Alice ran at him and kicked him into the nightstand, and he threw the lamp at her. "Strike Two."

Cascade picked him up and held him against the wall, and he pushed her away and pulled out a pocket knife, and managed to nick her left arm. "Strike Three. Your out."

Cascade whirled the necklace off and slammed it against the floor, still in her hand, and the floor around him turned into lava, stone surrounding it so it didn't melt. The guy sat still for a minute, but then he stood up and jumped out of the ring and straight out the window. "Dang it." Cascade said.

"Now he knows we're after him." Ed said.

"Yeah yeah." Cascade, and looked through her bag calmly, then she zipped it up calmly and threw it at the wall. "It's gone! That bastard!"

"What?" Hailey said.

"The picture frame I had of-" _Crap. They don't know about her._ "Nevermind."

"Why would he steal a picture frame?"

"It had a gold necklace on it." she said sighing. "Damn it!" She put her necklace back on and within seconds she'd jumped through the window, picked a random direction to search, and was running.

"Even for that to be just two stories up, she wasn't too hesitant was she?" Alice said.

"Nope." Hailey said. "Typical Cascade. Well, if she can do it..." Hailey was out the window too. Alice stared wide-eyed.

"I'm good." she ran to go take the stairs, followed by Ed and Al. They all took separate ways. Cascade ran down a street, and at the corner felt herself be grabbed and held to the wall. He did it with one arm, the other around her mouth. She wasn't hesitant to bite his hand, hard, and he let go. She held him to the wall. "The picture and necklace. Now." He pulled it out of his pocket roughly and threw it on the ground. She still had him pinned.

"Guys! Found him!" she yelled. Just as Ed and Al rounded the corner he threw her onto the ground, where she scratched up the part of her back that wasn't covered by her dark red halter top. She looked up at him. "You love making big mistakes, don't you?" She snapped up and elbowed him hard in the chest, causing him to weeze. She round kicked him, her foot purposely getting caught around his back, sending him crashing and skidding on the ground on his face. She stomped her foot on his back. "What have you done with your life! You've used it to make others miserable and claim others' lives! Why?"

"We all have secrets kid. And I get the feeling you're someone like me with a lot of secrets."

"I am nothing like you. Did you get that? Nothing." she said just as the police pulled up, her still holding him down with her foot. He pushed himself up quickly, sending her crashing into the ground. They were surrounded, and he had one last thing he needed to do. He held the knife to her throat, not as a human-body-guard, but ready to claim her life as well. she grabbed his hand.

"Listen, I know fate and destiny are totally screwed up. But that doesn't mean you need to screw up other people's." This left him stunned, and she simply pushed his hand away and walked away. She walked over to Ed, Al, Hailey, and Alice.

"What'd you say to him?" Ed asked.

"Just helped him clear some things up with his life." she said simply and picked up the picture frame which still remained unharmed, the necklace still around it, "Rylie' could still be read from the engraving. "It's still safe."

"What is 'it'?" Ed asked from behind. She gasped and held it to her side to hide it.

"Nothing!" she said, then ran back to the hotel room, closely followed.

"Well this was easier than expected." Haliey said.

"Yep, and we can return to Central tomorrow." Cascade said, putting the frame back in her backpack.


End file.
